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Despite 18 points and 12 rebounds from Derek Culver, and another 16 points from Taz Sherman, West Virginia couldn’t find a way to win in Fort Worth on Saturday.
The Mountaineers started shaky Saturday afternoon, allowing TCU to score the first six points of the game, giving us that ‘On the Road Again’ feeling that we’ve seen from the Mountaineers in conference play.
They would come back and take the lead and even lead by ten points with 3:30 to go in the first stanza.
As if on cue, a scoring drought would plague the Mountaineers and they would allow a run of eight unanswered TCU points to end the half, taking just a two point lead, 31-29 into the locker room.
The drought would continue into the second half for West Virginia until Miles McBride would hit a jumper almost two minutes into the second half. The second half was closely contested throughout with Texas Christian leading most of the way, but by no more than five points.
Oscar Tshiebwe made one of two free throws wth 1:04 left in the game to tie the score at 55. The scoreboard would not move for the rest of the half and the Mountaineers were sent to overtime for the first time this season.
The overtime period began with an oblivious Jermaine Haley allowing the shot clock to run out while he held the ball on the wing. The Mountaineers would muster just five points in the overtime period and ended up losing 67-60.
Stats That Matter
Taz Sherman, with his 16 point effort at TCU, has scored 45 points in the last three games.
West Virginia and TCU each had 35 rebounds on the day. West Virginia won the offensive rebounding battle 15-6 but once again managed to lose.
Shockingly, West Virginia only turned the ball over 10 times and committed 12 personal fouls. Shocking because winning the turnover battle and having six more offensive rebounds usually equals a win in a close game.
The stats that made the difference were from the lines.
West Virginia shot 11.8% from behind the three point line (2-17) and 53.3% from the foul line.
Conversely, TCU shot 33.3% from behind the three point line and 81.3 from the foul line. his is an unfortunate anomaly, TCU is the worst free throw shooting team in the Big 12 at 62%. For instance Kevin Samuel is normally a 34% free throw shooter, today he was 5-6 for 83%.
West Virginia returns to action on the road Monday at Texas.